Graphics Looking for good mid range Graphics card any suggestions?

I'm looking to upgrade to Core 2 in the near future. Thanks to this forum I think i've got my shopping list all sorted except for the Graphics card. I'm looking for something mid range to use with a E6400 core 2. £100 would be my spending limit. Any help would be appreciated. I only have a 17 inch TFT so i'm not looking at silly resolutions.

 

100 pound might get you an 1950 pro at a stretch but you can get a 1900gt for under 100 pound that should give you good framerates.

 

Would you mind posting up your shopping list so we could have a look? if i had to choose i would also go for a 1900gt, but it seems a shame to pair a 6400 with a sub £100 card. How much gaming do you do? If you could stretch to a 1950 or even the 360meg 8800's they should serve you better for longer, alternatively you could wait untill the 8600's are announced and see what pricepoint they enter at?

 

My shopping list is

E6400
Asus P5B
2Gb PC5400 corsair budget stuff (2 x 1Gb)
New 480W power supply

I don't do a huge amount of gaming but mainly because my current PC isn't upto the job.

Any idea when the 8600's are due?

 

if you can hold out the 8600 sounds good or theres the 8800gts 320mb at about £190

 

If I were you, I'd just go for an E6320 and then spend that little bit extra on the GPU.

 

I got the Sapphire 1950Pro from CCL online for £104. I'm very pleased with it. Combined with a 6300 dual core and only 1GB of RAM I'm running stuff like NFS: Carbon, Medieval Total War 2, and Oblivion with everything maxxed and at widescreen resolution of 1440x900 or 1650x1050 (depending on which is faster). All those games run at very smooth frame rates and look terrific. STALKER has proven more taxing but I think that's down to the fact I'm only on 1GB of RAM - it's still silking smooth but I've edged down some settings a little.

I'm very pleased with this card - comes with a ton of extras (no game) for every AV connection you can imagine and it looks great too.

Just my personal recommendation.

 

My card was £130 when i bought it but can be had for hust over £100 now like mookboy says. It is an excellent card for the money BUT is already is struggling with new games.

I cannot run Test Drive Unlimited @ 1440x900 max setting with HDR unless i turn off AA for a smooth game.

I have to run Stalker at medium textures to be able to play with full dynamic lighting. I can max everything else except grass shadows on some of the heavy levels like Pripyat. BUT i have to admit that i probably could play at max textures if i had more video ram as ATi tools reports that all 256mb is eaten by stalker.

Annnd... Trackmania United is a slideshow at max sm3.0 settings whilst playing online.

So it's not ideal @ 19" resolution like 1440x900 or 1280x1024 without turning a few notches down IMHO and future games will cripple this card sadly!

Yes it will play NFS MW and Carbon, Oblivion, FEAR, Prey etc but these are old games on old engines now. IMO its the newer games you need to look at and as much as i hate to say it the x1950pro is struggling.

Anyway as for RAM, i must say that Stalker hugely benefits with 2gb ram. I first played it with 1gb and the stuttering was bad at times, but has been alot better with 2gb. It has nearly eliminated all of it except the odd pause when running into a new area. With Stalker running and only 18 other processes i am using over 1.4gb ram.

 

Thanks for all this. Still not sure what to do and whether to wait for the 8600. Anyone have any idea when it's due for release?

 

I no it may be a bit outdated but the 7600 is also a good card for the money.

I am running stalker a 1400x1050 at medium settings with object dynamic lighting, using c2d e6400 and 1 gb fd ram. unfortunetly cant run full dynamic lighting though.

 

Dabs are selling a 256MB Sapphire X1950 Pro [PCI-E] for just £101.88 - with free delivery if you order during this Easter bank holiday

 

I'd wait for some variant of the 8600 series that will be released very shortly. DX10 and pretty powerful.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions. I'm going to hold out for a 8600 of some kind and also for the E6320 which will be released shortly.

 

April 17th for the 8600 launch.

 

I bet the 8600 will not be as poweful as the x1950 range in any dx9 games. I also bet that a 8600 will not be good enough for any DX10 games when they come out aswell.

 

7800 GTX?

 

The 8600 series seem to be slower than some of the mid range 7900 cards like the GS and epically the GT.

Unless ur wanting DX10 i would wait but a OC'd 7900series card will do for now.

 

Hi

Thanks for all your suggestions. I ended up with a BFG 8800GTS 320 which was over my budget but with some groveling to the good lady she allowed me to spend the extra cash.

 

and its a great card! i got one and it minces everything at 1280x1024, soon to go 1680x1050 or higher, so maybe il turn down the effects... lol!